Alexander Ovechkin (8) whoops it up in a 6-3 Capitals win. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)Alexander Ovechkin had two goals and one assist as the Washington Capitals snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.
Nicklas Backstrom had three assists, and Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist.
Viktor Kozlov, Alexander Semin and Jeff Schultz also scored for Washington, which had four third-period goals.
Miroslav Satan had a goal and an assist and Sidney Crosby had two assists for the reeling Penguins, who have lost eight of their last 10 games.
Crosby left the game late in the game after a collision with David Steckel along the boards during a power play.
He limped off the ice, favouring his leg, and soon after went to the dressing room and did not return.
No immediate word was available on his condition.
The game was the latest meeting between the two star-studded teams in what has become one of the NHL's most spirited rivalries.
Evgeni Malkin of Pittsburgh, Crosby and Ovechkin are at the top of the NHL's scoring leaders, and Semin's 38 points in 27 games would put him among that group if he hadn't missed time due to injury this season.
Ovechkin had all three of his points in the third, which began with the teams tied at 2.
He snapped a four-game goalless streak with his 28th of the season while on a power play 1:48 into the period, flipping his own rebound over the pads of Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Penguins tied it 84 seconds later during a delayed penalty call when Crosby fed Ryan Whitney for his first goal since Feb. 21 of last season — a span of 31 games.
Whitney ripped a slapshot from the left point that hooked up into the upper corner on Jose Theodore's stick side.
But the goal that put the Capitals ahead for good came on the power play via a diving shot by Fleischmann from the slot off an Ovechkin rebound with 11:49 to play.
Ovechkin's second of the game 3:16 later gave Washington a 5-3 lead.
Schultz had an empty-netter, his first of the season, with 1:06 left.
Pittsburgh struck first 5:45 into the contest when Crosby fed Malkin for a slapshot from the right point that beat Washington's Theodore for his 18th of the season.
Kozlov tied it 1:06 into the second when his innocent-looking wrist shot from the slot handcuffed Fleury, who got a glove on it but allowed it to trickle over him for Kozlov's 10th of the season.
Satan's 13th goal of the season 8:23 into the second was the 350th of his NHL career, but his first in 14 games.
It gave the Penguins a lead that lasted only about four minutes until Semin tied it at 2-2 with his 18th, a pretty redirection off a feed from Sergei Federov.
